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Training and Education Seminars Meetings

The company paid to send me to a one-day management seminar, and my manager asked me to make a one-hour presentation to the rest of our department afterwards. The problem is that the content of the seminar was either too juvenile or just plain wrong, but the presenter is one of my manager’s favorites. I’m concerned about my manager’s reaction if I say that the seminar was not very useful. How should I approach this assignment?



Although the management seminar did not manage to impress you, there are still ways for you to positively and productively hold a one-hour session to review it.

Importantly, even if the original seminar was incredibly great, it would be a mistake for you hold a one-hour follow-up session where you simply tell your associates what you heard. That would be a lecture, and it is one of the least effective teaching techniques.

The best way to conduct this type of session is to make it a true discussion in which you present the key points that were asserted in the original seminar, and then ask your associates to present their ideas, inputs, and suggestions. Your associates may shed some insights that clarify the importance of the information that you are presenting, or they too may indicate that the information from the seminar is an oversimplification.

Either way, it can be an excellent learning experience for all of you to discuss this material, and it can be an excellent management experience for you to run this discussion.



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